A male student from the rice fields and his journey to the Silver Medal of the European Physics Olympiad

18 years old mark

Tran Nguyen Khai comes toEuropean Physics Olympiad(EuPhO) in 2025 after winning First Prize atNational Excellent Student Exam2025 and be shortlisted for the national team to participate in regional and international Olympic competitions.

Coming to this final exam, Khai said he did not put pressure on himself. However, he was determined to try his best because he wanted to leave a special mark on his teachers and school in his last year of school. The trip to Bulgaria with his teachers and teammates in mid-June was also Khai's first trip abroad.

This year’s European Physics Olympiad brought together more than 200 students from 29 countries and territories around the world. Compared to other exams, this exam has different questions, requiring students to think and be creative.

As for Khai, he welcomed this change, saying that he was quite excited. Khai shared that candidates participating in EuPhO must take two exams, including theory and practice, each lasting 5 hours. The exam not only tests extensive physics knowledge but also requires thinking ability, creativity and practical experimental handling skills.

The scoring method in this exam also requires students to be very careful, because if the candidate has an idea and can implement the method of doing the test, they can get points, but if from the beginning, the candidate does not find an idea, all opportunities will be lost. Meanwhile, in other exams, the exercises are more about research, academics and the scoring method will be "detailed to each idea". The interesting thing about this exam is that there are many creative problems with strange ideas.

Talking about the competition process, Khai shared that he encountered some difficulties while doing the test and could not complete the test completely. However, he was satisfied with the Silver Medal he achieved, because this was the result that he had fully developed his own capacity. The trip with the first experiences when participating in an international arena also gave Khai unforgettable memories, helping him have a different perspective on science and he needed to try to learn more to be able to apply the knowledge in books into practice, with high applicability.

Grown up through strictness

After the exam in mid-June, Khai returned to his hometown in Yen Thanh district (old) and only allowed himself 3 days to rest. After that time, he returned to his familiar rented room of about 10 square meters, near Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, and began a new journey with the goal of obtaining an IELTS English certificate.

Previously, with the talent selection method, Khai was admitted to the Computer Data and Artificial Intelligence major at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Learning English, according to Khai, is to help him when starting in the university environment. Moreover, after the European Physics Olympiad, Khai hopes to study abroad to improve his own capacity and have more access to advanced technologies in the field he is studying.

When it comes to learning English, Khai admits that it is “not easy” because the amount of new words and knowledge he has to learn every day is quite a lot. However, with the experience of a student who “overcame difficulties”, Khai believes in himself and does not allow himself to be negligent, making use of every moment to avoid wasting time.

Khai compared his English learning journey today with his journey to conquer Physics, because they both have the same unfavorable starting point.

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I studied at Bach Lieu Secondary School (formerly Yen Thanh) and only won the Encouragement Prize in Physics in the Provincial Excellent Student Competition for Grade 9. When I took the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School, I was only in the top 10 and quite modest compared to many students in my class who had won First and Second prizes in the province. For that reason, later on, it was more difficult for me to get into the national team compared to my friends and while my friends tried one or two times, I had to work much harder.

Tran Nguyen Khai

Talking about the memorable 3-year journey at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, in addition to the exam seasons and outstanding achievements such as winning the First and Second prizes in the National Excellent Student Competition for 2 consecutive years, and the Silver Medal in European Physics, Khai said, "The most successful thing at this school is that I met my homeroom teacher, Le Xuan Bao, and was inspired by the teachers in the school to confidently come to Physics."

Telling more about this, Khai added: As soon as we decided to join the national team selection team, my friends and I had a very tight study schedule to finish the general education program early in grade 10. Since the summer of grade 10, we started studying the advanced program to choose the official team at the beginning of grade 11.

Because the program is very heavy, the homeroom teacher is always strict with the students, requiring them to be disciplined, diligent, and complete their homework according to the plan. Personally, when I first started studying, I also had times of violations, but later on, thanks to the teacher's serious and dedicated teaching, I improved. He also trained me to persevere in studying, not to be afraid of difficulties, and helped me improve every day.

Sharing more about his high school years, Khai said that, apart from the time in grade 10, he had very little time to study with his classmates in the remaining 2 years. Even in grade 12, because he was constantly on the team, he only had 2 weeks to study with his classmates and did not have time to take yearbook photos with his class.

With the goal of joining the national team, in grade 12, from living in the dormitory, Khai decided to rent a room outside by himself, starting an independent life to have more time to study seriously.

The new European Physics Olympiad Silver Medalist shared more about his growth process: I think that in the later rounds, the candidates' abilities will be quite equal in terms of knowledge. If there is a difference, "it is the individual efforts of each person", requiring endurance to not interrupt the study. In this regard, my teachers and I in the school team have trained us for a very long time and created a solid mindset when entering the exam room and confidence in each exercise we have completed.

Accompanying Tran Nguyen Khai for 3 years in the Physics specialized class, teacher Le Xuan Bao assessed Khai as an especially diligent and hard-working student. Therefore, the results he achieved were completely worthy and a testament to his determination and perseverance. Teacher Bao also said that being able to teach in a class with many excellent and hard-working students was a teacher's luck. Therefore, with his seriousness towards the profession, he hopes to help his students have a solid foundation and overcome difficulties to realize their dreams and ambitions.